Frydenberg at odds with Hewson on target

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg doesn''t agree with former Liberal leader John Hewson that Australia needs to adopt a 60 per cent renewables target if it it is to meet it Paris emissions goal.

Mr Frydenberg says the government is already going to take "quite a leap forward" to meet its 23.5 per cent renewables target by 2020 compared to around 15 per cent now.

"The overall goal here is to meet our Paris target, which is a 26 to 28 per cent emissions reductiuon by 2030 ... We have got different mechanisms to reach that emissions goal of ours, but a renewables energy target is not the only way to get there," he told Sky News on Sunday.

Greens Leader Richard Di Natale said the government has no plans to reach its own measly emissions reduction targets.

He said the closure of Hazelwood in Victoria early next year will be the first of a number of coal-fired power stations that will close through the switch to renewable energy.

But the senator said there has to be a transition plan to look after people who are going to lose their jobs and put them on pathways into other forms of employment.

"But you have got to do the work, you can't just put your head in the sand and hope it's not happening," he told Sky News.